Posts tagged: Dessert
(No campfires required!)
So, I just made a batch of vegan nutella (see my recipe here), and I was trying to think of creative ways to spin it. And I came up with this… I certainly didn’t invent s’mores, but this is one vegan treat idea I couldn’t pass up posting. I mean, just look at that picture! You could eat the computer.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- Graham crackers (just check the box—most graham crackers are already vegan, even the cheap store brand ones.)
- 1 batch of vegan nutella (link to recipe above)—or just use some dairy-free chocolate, whatever suits you. (NOTE: If you are super trashy, use peanut butter and Hershey’s syrup mixed together, but don’t say I told you to, because that’s trashy even for me.)
- Vegan marshmallows (I recommend Sweet & Sara’s—we can get them at the local Hyvee, and they are AMAZING!)
STEPS:
- Preheat the broiler in your oven to 525F.
- Lay a graham cracker on a cookie sheet.
- Spread some nutella on the cracker.
- Top it off with a marshmallow.
- Put everything under the broiler until the marshmallow is golden-brown, about 2 minutes.
- Voila! Delicious s’mores!!
Now, to be honest with you, I’m not a huge fan of nutella in the jar, and it has skim milk in it, so it’s not vegan. It always tastes sickeningly sweet to me. But I wanted a fun project to do on the summer solstice, and I knew I could make a better vegan version of this chocolate-hazelnut spread, inspired by my bestie (here’s a plug for her kick-ass blog), who made something similar to this for Mother’s Day brunch. Plus, bulk hazelnuts were on sale at Hyvee.
I know it’s not very trashy to do all this work, but honestly, it’s not so bad, and sometimes you need a little project. And besides, your trashy kitchen must-have, the Magic Bullet, practically does all the work for you!
TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes (30 minutes just letting the hazelnuts roast)
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- 2 cups of bulk hazelnuts
- 1-2 teaspoons of vegetable or canola oil
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp vanilla
- Tiny pinch of salt (1/8 teaspoon)
- Magic Bullet! (or blender or food processor)
STEPS:
- Set the oven to 350F.
- Roast the hazelnuts on a large cookie sheet until they’re dark brown, about 30 minutes. Shake them around once in the middle.
- When the hazelnuts are done roasting, take the bitter skins off. A bunch of recipes will tell you to use a kitchen towel to “rub” the skins off. In my experience, not only does this method not do the job, but it makes a huge mess of your towel, and you drop sh*t everywhere. Here is my tried and true method; it works best when the hazelnuts are still hot! First, shake the whole cookie sheet around a lot. The skins will naturally slough off some of the hazelnuts through this friction. Pick the already skinned ones out and throw them in your Magic Bullet cup. Then pick your hazelnuts up one by one—starting with the ones that are just partially skinned from shaking—and use your thumb and pointer finger to pinch the hazelnut, pulling the skin off. Repeat this process—shake things around again and see what happens. Yes, it’s kind of annoying, but it works, and you’ll get into a rhythm and get it done. Another secret: if you leave a few stubborn pieces of skin attached, it won’t really hurt anything, but you do want to get rid of as many as possible.
- Put the peeled, roasted hazelnuts in your Magic Bullet and grind for about 5 minutes (give that Bullet a break every 60 seconds or so, because it gets hot). Slowly, the hazelnuts will form a creamy butter as the natural oils leach out of the nuts. If your Bullet keeps getting stuck, or if things seem to be dry, add a teaspoon or two of vegetable or canola oil, and the process will speed along. Your final “nutella” will also be more spreadable if you add a tiny bit of oil.
- Now that you have a hazelnut butter, add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and a teeny pinch of salt. Blend some more, until your “nutella” is smooth.
- Refrigerate until you’re ready to use. I think this spread is great with fruit like strawberries in the summer. My best friend also proved that it is awesome on waffles at breakfast. Enjoy!
If you’ve ever tried to make vegan brownies from scratch, you already know it sucks. Most of those from-scratch vegan brownie recipes using mashed bananas or apple sauce or flaxseed are a huge hassle, and they can get expensive, and they come out wrong. Lame!
This recipe, on the other hand, truly couldn’t be simpler or more delicious, and everyone loves it. I stole this idea from a friend, actually, who told me you could make “weight watcher brownies” with canned pumpkin. So I did this experiment, and voila. Someone recently asked me the best and easiest vegan dessert recipe, and this just might be it.
One warning—these are definitely chocolate lovers’ brownies! They’re rich and moist, a lot like fudge.
PREP TIME: 5 minutes
BAKING TIME: ~40 minutes (according to package instructions)
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- A vegan brownie mix from the grocery store—standard size (~20 oz). Check the ingredients list for one with no milk, which often comes in the form of butterfat or casein. If you can, choose a mix with chocolate chips in it, or add chips yourself. My favorite vegan brownie mix is Ghirardelli Double Chocolate—and if you’re ever looking for vegan chocolate chips, Ghirardelli semisweets are the best.
- 1 or 2 standard cans of pumpkin (15 oz)
- Peanut butter (optional, see variation below)
STEPS:
- Preheat your oven to the temperature suggested on the back of your brownie mix box (usually 350 or 375F).
- Empty the brownie mix into a large bowl.
- Add only one can of pumpkin and mix well. Usually one can does the trick, but you may need a bit more… (See step 4)
- Take a look at your brownie batter. It should be wet enough that all the dry mix is incorporated easily and completely. If you think your batter is too dry, add a little more pumpkin (by the tablespoon). When you’re all done, just put some plastic wrap over your remaining pumpkin and save it in the fridge for another day.
- That’s it! You don’t need any eggs or oil or water or anything. Bake this batter according to the directions on the box, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. I recommend using the 8x8 or 9x9 square pan—whatever the smallest suggested pan is.
VARIATIONS—FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER LOVER:
If you love peanut butter, take three or so tablespoons of creamy PB and smear it on the top of your brownie batter after you pour it into the pan, giving it a marbled effect. Bake just the same. Your brownies will have a nice hint of PB flavor.
DELICIOUS!
Okay, this is a relatively “healthy” version of a milkshake that I guess is sort of more like an extra-rich chocolate smoothie. Instead of using ice cream or even dairy-free ice cream as a base, it uses frozen fruit. And if you’re a trashy calorie counter, this little doozy’s only got about 160 of them: 100 for the banana, 50 for the almond milk (use unsweetened Almond Breeze, 40 cal per cup), and 10 calories for the cocoa powder. A fun trivia fact is that I adapted this recipe from one passed down to me by the one-and-only beautiful poet Carolyn Forche.
RECIPE TIME: 5 minutes or less
(Remember to throw a banana in the freezer a few hours before, though. I just keep ripe bananas in there all the time because they never go bad in there, and there are lots of recipes that can use a frozen/thawed banana.)
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- 1 ripe banana, peeled and stuck in the freezer for a couple of hours (or overnight)
- 1 1/4 cups soy or almond milk (don’t use rice, it’s too thin and tastes weird)
- 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder (I recommend Hershey’s! Don’t use a Dutch-processed cocoa powder for this one)
- A Magic Bullet! If you don’t have one of these, I highly recommend you get one. It’s quick, easy, clean, and doesn’t require the mess and hassle of other blenders/food processors. Plus it is CHEAP. An essential component of any trashy kitchen.
STEPS:
- Slice up the frozen banana.
- Put it in the Magic Bullet cup with the almond milk and the cocoa powder. Make sure you put in the cocoa powder last so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
- Blend for about one minute, or until the mixture is smooth (check for lumps of banana with a spoon).
Stick a straw in it, and you’re good to go!
VARIATIONS:
- If you like a smoother shake, add a little more almond milk.
- If you like a thick shake, use less almond milk.
- If you’re not a chocoholic like me, you can half the cocoa powder or substitute a small amount of vanilla extract (at your own risk!).
- If you don’t like bananas, try another frozen fruit like strawberries. It’s also really easy to buy bags of pre-frozen berries in the grocery store, which last forever in your freezer.
